Inscribed
by akblake
Summary: When Sophie notices something odd, she gets far more of a surprise than she'd bargained for! Eliot/Parker, Sophie/Nate


Sophie kept an eagle eye on the 'kids' as she called them- Eliot, Parker, and Hardison, the youngest thieves of their odd little family. They were all roughhousing by the pool and she didn't want one of them getting hurt, or for an errant splash of cold water to interrupt her sunbathing. Eliot and Parker caught her attention yet again as she couldn't put her finger on what was off; only that it drew her eye at infrequent times, like catching the barest glimmer of a diamond in sunlight. She watched unobtrusively and waited- the answer would eventually come to her, it always did.

"Bansai!" Parker shrieked as she leapt onto Eliot's upper back, overbalancing him from where he'd been laughing after having thrown Hardison into the water and dumping them both into the pool with a riotous splash. Hardison was now cackling like a hyena, and even Sophie had to chuckle at the tables being turned on their normally sure-footed hitter. They had been at it for hours already and it finally looked to be slowing down as Hardison sedately paddled a few laps around the pool.

In a calm moment, Eliot put a hand on Parker's face to still her, examining something Sophie couldn't see from her distance, and then pointed to the shaded chairs. A pouting Parker emerged from the pool to flop bonelessly onto the lounger next to Sophie's. "Party pooper," she muttered, and Sophie could see what caught Eliot's attention.

"Parker, darling, didn't you put on any lotion earlier?" Sophie examined the deeply pink hue Parker's skin had taken on in the sun and determined that perhaps only her nose and cheekbones would likely peel. An inconsistency caught her eye. "What is that?" she asked, pointing to an odd white shape on Parker's finger, only visible due to the contrast between it and her reddened skin.

Parker immediately pulled her hand away from Sophie's inspection and stammered something to the effect that she'd tell them later, and then escaped. Intrigued, Sophie tracked her as she made her way directly to where Eliot now lay sunbathing, whispered something to him, and the two disappeared together after an unreadable nod to Hardison. Something was up. Ever patient as a lioness stalking her target, Sophie refrained from following and settled for simply observing.

* * *

By the time that darkness and hunger had driven them inside, Sophie was beginning to become concerned. Eliot and Parker had remained indoors after the discovery and were now being conspicuous in their attempts at acting "normal". By dessert, Sophie was ready to abandon her earlier resolve and harangue the two into explaining. Eliot standing, though, preempted her.

"Parker and I have decided to come clean with you all," he started off, and Hardison's knowing grin assured Sophie that it wasn't a horrible secret that had been kept. "We've been dating for the past year, and four months ago we got married." Eliot sat to silence while Parker beamed and held his offered hand.

"You two have been dating. For the past year?" Sophie nearly stammered with surprise; her job was based on observation, so how did she miss something this massive? Nate's avoiding her gaze sparked an idea. "You knew!" Sophie pointed at Nate.

Nate shook his head, the proud look he'd had since Eliot's announcement still very much in place. "I knew they were dating and ran interference so that they could get nights off together, but I didn't know that they got married." He turned to the couple and lifted his glass of water in salute, "Congratulations you two, I'm glad that you made it official."

Hardison piped up, "Actually, I knew that they got married, but that's only because I had to help with the marriage certificate. Crazy kids wanted to use their real names, but didn't want to send up any red flags," he rolled his eyes. Knowing Hardison's talents, it had likely taken fewer than ten minutes to accomplish, but he still had problems showing that he cared. Sophie made a mental note that she'd have to work with him on that.

"When and how?" she asked rapidly, desperate now to know the details.

Parker grinned. "When we all split up for break, we went to Vegas and got married on a *bungee jump*," she nearly bounced in her chair while Eliot shuddered slightly. "We also got tattoos, wanna see?" She pulled out what Sophie recognized as Hardison's little ever-present black light and held out her left hand in demonstration. There Sophie could see that the odd white line appeared to be a luminous purple under the light; Eliot's hand bearing the same strange line joined hers under the light a second later.

"UV-reactive ink?" Nate asked with appreciation as he leaned in to inspect the work. Sophie quirked an eyebrow at him in question and only received a smug look in return, which frustrated her. *Someone* was going to face an interrogation once she corralled him in their room tonight!

"Not like we can wear rings," Eliot explained. "Rings hurt my hand when I hit people, and anything reflective would set off motion detectors on Parker, so we agreed to tattoos. The ink won't leave any identifiable markings since it's nearly invisible in regular light, but we can still feel the raised band." Parker stroked over his tattoo to demonstrate, and Sophie watched them exchange a close look. She'd missed their courtship and marriage, but there was still something she could do for the obviously bonded pair.

"Since Nate is going to give you two weeks off, I want to give you a honeymoon." Her soft announcement brought all eyes to focus on her, and Sophie used the opportunity to give Nate a look of warning. They were going to have time off whether he scheduled it or she took it from him. Nate nodded acceptance of her unspoken demand. "I have an island off the coast of Japan that I think would be a perfect getaway for you two- the guest house is a lovely little minka set on the seaward side of the island…" she trailed off temptingly. Another silent look between Eliot and Parker, and they both agreed, thanking her.

As it was late, they all retired; Eliot and Parker allowing themselves to be visibly together as they walked off hand in hand. Sophie snagged Nate's arm as he tried to slink past unnoticed. "Where do you think you're going?" she whispered as she towed him along to their bedroom. He was due quite the 'punishment' for hiding the pair's dating, yet was due a reward for giving them time off, and Sophie had plans for giving him both tonight!

* * *

Hope you enjoyed- I struggled a bit with this one as Sophie's "voice" isn't my easiest to write, and this entire idea wanted to put up a fight about being written.


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